


Working with What's Left

by probablynotadalek



Series: probably not finished [10]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Living Forever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24614779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probablynotadalek/pseuds/probablynotadalek
Summary: In the end, there are three of them.
Relationships: Natasha Romanov & Thor, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Thor
Series: probably not finished [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1304903
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Working with What's Left

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I read a comic once that said Nat had some version of the serum but I have put zero effort into corroborating that. 
> 
> Also this is another one I wrote in 2015 and... it shows.

In the end, there are three of them. One who always knew he would end up alone, one who knew it was a possibility, and one who had no idea. As the last of their friends is lowered into the earth, their mourning is tainted by the thought of which of them will die next. 

Except that they all keep living. 

Years turn to decades and Thor goes back to Asgard and Natasha disappears saying only that she has to move on. At first they meet up often, but then Thor gets busy with politics and Natasha gets tied up in building up and tearing down regimes and Steve finds all of his time being devoted to training other heroes. They take turns sitting alone in bars and restaurants before they stop showing up at all. 

Again, Steve is alone. Again, everyone he knew is dead and again, the entire world has changed. The difference is that this time, he watched it happen. This time, he lived through every breakthrough, every war, every tragedy that shaped what he would never truly come to consider the present. 

The world still needs saving, sure, but he is not the one to save it. His friends are replaced by a few new generations of Avengers, with the same name and same purpose but the people could never be the same. They could never see him the same way. They look up to him as a mentor and a guide but never see him as an equal. Never as a friend. 

When he can’t bear the loneliness anymore, he disappears, takes off to the tiny farmhouse in the middle of nowhere Tony had given to him when he died. He fixes it up until it’s brand new. He paints every thing that catches his attention long enough. Most of them he sells, but the walls of the house are quickly covered in paintings of long-dead friends. He thinks a few times that maybe it’s because he doesn’t want to be alone, but Steve knows it’s because Clint would come back from the grave to kill him if he let an image of Iron Man carrying Hawkeye upside down by the ankles into the world. He loses track of the years.

And then there is a knock at his door. 

“I need your help.” Natasha says, and he believes her.


End file.
